More Than Just An Everlasting Friendship
by Erinay
Summary: When Kohaku rescues Rin, it ignites a flame for a beautiful friendship that one day may just turn into a forest fire.
1. A Rescue

Rin looked up as she saw rain clouds coming in. She sighed. "How am I going to make it anywhere in time before those clouds hit, and the rain starts?" She grumbled to herself. She'd been out on her own for a year now, and still didn't like it much, since she was all alone. She was used to being with Sesshoumaru and Jaken.

She looked around, to see if she could see any where that she could use as shelter from a storm. She looked off past the large field to her left, to see a cave low in the side of the mountain. She sighed, knowing it would take her a while to get there, but she knew getting into a dry place before the end of the storm would be better then staying out through the whole thing.

Deciding running would save time, she started off at a semi slow pace, to save energy for the climb up to the cave. All the while, she scanned her surroundings to make sure no demons were coming at her. She also kept a close watch on the ground in front of her, watching every step, in case of any other obstruction between her and the cave.

Kohaku was at the base of the mountain, looking up at the cave. He sighed, looking back at the clouds coming in. He took one last look, and then turned his back to it, and began to climb, despite the height. He may not have had much memory as to much from his past, except for a few blurry faces in the back of his mind, but one thing he did know about himself, was that he had a fear of heights.

He was careful not to look down as he climbed higher and higher. He looked from side to side in case anything was coming at him, and ahead to make sure nothing was falling towards him. When he got to the top, he took a sigh of relief, and headed inside the cave.

Inside, it was pretty big, compared to how it looked from the outside. There was a lot of room, and it was obviously occupied for however short of a time not to long ago. There was a fire pit already set up, but the coal was cold, so there were no worries of any one coming back, since there was no other sign of life besides the fire pit.

Kohaku set his stuff down, and took one more look around, to get familiar with it. He took in every shadowed spot, and even made sure he could tell where the back was, in case any one—or anything for that mater--- was hiding in there.

He took out three small blankets. He set one down, and then another on top of it, then rolled one up, and set it at the head of the bed he had just made. With that, he stood up, and walked out to the entrance. He looked up as a raindrop, first one of the night, had fallen on his head.

"Great, and the rain begins" Kohaku sighed, and went back inside.

Rin looked up as the first drop of rain of the night fell on her head.

"Great, and the rain begins." Rin sighed, and started going a little bit faster, careful with her footing, because she didn't want to slip.

As she reached the bottom of the mountain, she realized the cave was a lot higher then she thought. But she had no choice but to continue on, for the rain had only gotten harder as time passed on. She was soaked, as well as probably everything in her bag. She adjusted her bag, then found a few places to step, and hold on to, and began her climb up.

It was a much longer climb then she would have liked it to be, and the rain made it all the much harder. Her hands slipped constantly, and so did her feet. Suddenly her foot slipped, causing her to twist, and only end up hanging on by one arm. Her bag caught on the rocks, making it impossible for her to move away. She tried to swing it off the rock it was stuck on, but all it did was tear it, causing all of it's contents to fall to the ground, in a heap in the mud and rocks below.

She looked up to see how close she was, and saw she was getting pretty close to the top. She took one swing, to get her feet back on, and caught the rocks just right, regaining her balance. She swung her arm up to the next rock, and missed. She tried again, barely grasping hold of it. She pulled herself up to grab the next rock, but her hand supporting her slipped, and her feet weren't standing on any rocks.

She shrieked as she slid down about five feet, to a place where she couldn't regain balance or grab onto anything, except the root hanging out that she had already grabbed on to.

Kohaku heard a scream from outside of the cave. He ran to the edge, and kneeled down to look over. First he saw how high up he was, which was very unnerving, and then saw a girl hanging on by a root. She must have been trying to climb up to get out of the rain, but the rain had made the rocks to slippery.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then swung his leg over the edge.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" He shouted down to the girl.

Rin looked up to see a pair of feet belonging to a boy above her.

"I can't hold on much longer! I'm slipping, and the root is tearing!" She called to him.

"Just hold on as long as you can!"

Rin yelped as the root tore from the side of the mountain, sliding her down two more feet.

"I'm all right!" She called back up to him. "It just slid down! But I don't know how much longer it'll hold!" She looked over her shoulder, and saw she was still a long ways up.

Kohaku quickened his way down, but couldn't go much faster, for the rocks being wet made it difficult for him to find his footing. He looked over his shoulder, careful to focus on the girl, and not the ground below her. Seeing he wasn't too far off from where she was, he took a deep breath, and continued.

"I'm almost there!" He said, as he reached a small ledge just above her. He wrapped one hand around a different root, and leaned down, holding out his hand to her. "Grab on!"

Rin tried to swing herself up to reach his hand, but no matter how hard she tried, she could only graze his fingertips at the most. "I can't! You're just a little to far away!"

Kohaku stretched as far as he could, and shook his hand, motioning for her to try again.

Rin swung herself up once again, this time catching his palm, and grabbing on. The root in his other hand wavered at the new weight, but held on. She let go of the root she was holding on to, and lifted her other hand to just above his wrist. She missed, unable to quite grab hold, her hand wet and hurt from the root. Her other hand began to slip.

"I'm slipping!" She shouted to him.

"Just hold on! Hold on as tight as you can! I'm going to try and pull you up!" He instructed, as he braised his feet against the corner between the ledge and the side of the mountain. But before he could begin to pull her up, she slipped, letting go of his hand completely, and falling out of reach of both him, and the root she was holding on to previously. She fell to the ground, and didn't move for a moment.

She tried to lift her arm, but she had no more strength, and it hurt to bad. She blacked out.

Kohaku's eyes almost fell out of his head as he saw the girl crash to the ground. Her arm moved for a second, but then it fell back to the ground at her side, and she didn't move after that. With that, he slid down to the bottom, and checked to see how badly she was hurt.

Not to bad, but the strain took all the energy she had left, and caused her to black out. He looked back up, as the rain just then began to stop.

"Of course, _now _it stops." He mutters. He looked back to the girl's limp form, and then back up at the cave. He looked around to the side of the cave, hoping to find an easier way back up. Sure enough, he did.

With that, he carried her up the steep and small trail, careful not to look down at any time.

When he reached the top, he laid her next to the fire on the bed he had made, and then leaned against the stone near by to watch her. He looked her over about ten times, to make sure she wasn't hurt badly. When she woke up, he'd help her clean her cuts, and put stuff over them.

After looking her over one last time, and checking her temperature, he pulled out another blanket, and put it over her. With that, he leaned back and let his eyes fall, as he fell asleep.


	2. The Morning After

Kohaku woke up to a stiff neck, and the girl no longer in the bundle of blankets. He looked around to see where she had gone. He figured outside. He walked out to see her looking down to the bottom of the cliff.

Kohaku cleared his throat to let her know he was there. She jumped slightly at the sound, and then relaxed.

"Thank you…" she murmured softly.

"It was nothing…" He responded, just as softly.

After a few moments silence, he came over to take a seat next to her.

"What's your name?" He asked politely.

"My name is Rin. What's yours?" She asked, turning to face him with a bright smile.

"Kohaku. My name is Kohaku." He said after a moments pause.

"Nice to meet you Kohaku. Thank you very much for saving me last night." She said, turning away.

"Really, it was nothing." He replied and turned away as well.

There was a few minutes silence. Rin couldn't take the silence any more.

_Why did he save me like that? What is he doing out here all alone? _

"I'm glad you didn't end up hurt to bad." Kohaku said lightly, ending the silence. "But we should do something about those cuts." He said, motioning for her to follow him back inside.

"Yeah, I agree." Rin replied. "Uhm…" she hesitated. "What are you doing out here, all alone?" She asked, as she followed him back in.

"Well, I don't really know. I have no memory of my past, except a few blurry faces in the back of my mind. No names, except my own, and no idea where I am at even." He replied, half matter-of-factly, and half sadly.

"Oh…" Rin breathed.

"What about you? Why are you out here alone? Surely there's someone out there looking for you." Kohaku asked lightly. He began on cleaning out her cuts. "Tell me if any of this hurts you."

"Heh, I doubt it. I got separated from the guy I was with. I doubt he even cares enough to look for me. Other then him, I have no other person to consider as family. My family I think was killed. It was too long ago, and I was too young to remember. All I know is I've been with him for as long as I can remember, pretty much ever since the incident." She lowered her head. As she spoke, Kohaku cleaned and covered her cuts. "Thank you." She murmured.

"Oh…" Kohaku lowered his head as well, silently wishing he hadn't asked, seeing the pain it brought her to talk about it.

They sat there for a while longer, in silence once again, as Kohaku put away the stuff he used to clean her cuts.

Rin suddenly brightened up, and turned to face Kohaku, as he looked up.

"I have an idea." She said. "Why don't we travel together? Just until we find where we're supposed to be going. I mean, why would our paths have crossed unless it was meant to happen? So what do you say? Friends?" She held out her hand for him to shake.

He hesitated a moment, then set his hand in hers, and shook it. "All right. Friends." He smiled.

_Friends. Now that's a new concept for me. I've been alone since before I can remember, though that's not that far back, since I have no memory past a handful of years back._ Kohaku thought to himself.

Rin sat back and sighed. _Friends. I've made a friend._ She smiled, and then flopped onto her back, folding her hands behind her head, and watched the clouds roll by. Kohaku soon followed suit.

They lay there for what seemed like both mere seconds, and hours and hours on end. Finally Kohaku stood and brushed himself off, then turned to Rin.

"We should get going…" He suggested.

"I think we should wait until tomorrow. Even I woke up too late for us to have taken off and gotten far, you slept longer then I did. We should wait until tomorrow. The next village is too far off for us to make it there before nightfall, and we learned last night traveling much at night isn't to much of a good idea." She remarked, giving a weak smile.

Kohaku shrugged. He couldn't argue with that. A day of rest would be nice, and she was right, there was no way they'd get anywhere before dark if they started now. He lay down next to her on the ledge again, and folded his arms behind his head, and drifted off to sleep for a little while.

When he woke back up, the sun was farther down, and Rin was no longer lying down. Instead she sat off to the side of him, watching the sun sink down behind the horizon. He got up and walked over to join her for the moment. They sat in silence as the sun slowly sank down in the distance. After it had completely left their sight, Kohaku stood.

"Are you hungry?" He asked.

Rin nodded. She hadn't eaten much in a long time. She stood and followed Kohaku back into the cave. As she walked through the entrance, it hit her. She had lost her bag in her run to the cave, a ways before she had met up with the spider demons.

"What is it?" Kohaku asked, when he realized that Rin was no longer right behind him.

"My stuff fell into the mud, all of it ruined, last night. My bag caught on the rocks, and tore open, spilling everything out." She smacked herself on the forehead, and silently cursed her luck.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Maybe we can get you some things in the next town…?" Kohaku suggested.

Rin nodded and searched her waist for her coin purse. It was there. She heaved a sigh of relief.

Kohaku took out some squares wrapped in cloth. He handed one to Rin.

"It's bread. Trust me, it's good. And it will help you regain any energy you've lost." He said, unfolding the cloth around the one he had set-aside for himself and taking a bite out of it, once he had put away the others.

After they ate, Kohaku took out two more blankets, added them to the others, and made a bedroll for Rin.

"Here. You'll sleep here tonight." He said, once he had finished.

"B-but, where will you sleep?" Rin asked, looking around to see there was no other sleeping place made.

"Don't worry about me, you just lay down and sleep. You need to rest, after that fall of yours." He said, and motioned for her to lay down.

Rin decided it was useless to argue any further, knowing she'd only lose that fight. She shook her head, and slipped into the bedroll. She yawned and closed her eyes. After a while, she heard Kohaku lay down. She peeked her eyes open, to see him across the fire, laying on what seemed to be a set of clothing, and he had his bag for a pillow.

"I can't sleep." She said softly, incase he was asleep himself.

"Me neither." Came a soft reply from across the fire, a few moments later.

"My name is Rin. I'm 16, and I've been on my own for about a year now. I traveled with Sesshoumaru ever since some of my earliest memories. My earlier memories are of when my family I think was killed. I wouldn't know, because Sesshoumaru took me away from there. I haven't known many people, but I do know some on a somewhat personal level I guess you could say. Sesshoumaru's brother, InuYasha, and his companions, Kagome, Miroku, Shippo, and Sango." Something clicked in Kohaku's mind as the last name was spoken. "That is basically my past. I'm extremely afraid of spiders, which is why I was pretty much hopeless last night. I like to read and write, draw and I love music. I don't have any friends, with the exception of you, but I want more friends. And hopefully a really close one someday." Rin rambled off. When she stopped, she was surprised to see that Kohaku hadn't fallen asleep, but was propped up on his elbow, looking at her from across the fire.

He sighed and rolled back over onto his back. "My name is Kohaku. I have no recollection of my past, with the exceptions of some blurry faces in the back of my memory. I've made no friends along the way, until today. Though secretly I was hoping one of more would come along some day. Hey, it gets lonely traveling alone, especially when you didn't know any one to begin with, and have no memory of any one. I'm afraid of heights, but I like to sit in trees, they just can't be _to _high up. I like to draw, read, write, and I like music." Kohaku rambled off in response to Rin's ramble.

It was Rin's turn to sit up on her elbow and watch Kohaku talk over the fire. When he was done, she nodded, and rolled over onto her back with a sigh and a yawn.

"I'm tired now." She managed to mumble past another yawn.

"Me too." Yawned Kohaku in reply.

With that they both rolled onto their sides, and closed their eyes, drifting off into a peaceful sleep until morning.


	3. Travels Begin

The next morning, Kohaku awoke first, and was soon followed by Rin. They both packed things quietly, and put out what was left of the fire from the night before. Once everything was packed, they set off in silence.

They had already gone pretty far, before Rin decided to break the silence.

"One time, when I came to one village…" She started, and continued to tell about the time when she first met InuYasha and his group. Shippo had gotten into her candy, and made himself sick. InuYasha sat in a tree the majority of the time, because he wanted to keep as far as he could from his brother. Kagome sat InuYasha twice to keep him from doing things to Sesshoumaru. Kirara and Shippo had fallen asleep about half way through the day. Miroku had gotten slapped hard in the face for doing something she didn't see. Then later, he got slapped again, and this time she saw him rubbing Sango's butt.

Kohaku laughed and then began a story of his own. "Once, when I was in a village, I saw a monk go up to a random house, which I had been to a few times during my stay in the village, and tell the owner that there was an evil spirit in there. She believed him, and when he came it to exorcize it, he rubbed her butt, and she slapped him and chased him out of the house with a broom."

"A monk huh?" Rin asked through her laughter. "I think that might have been Miroku." She laughed harder, since now she pictured Miroku running away from a woman waving a broom like mad.

After their laughter died down, Rin decided that the silence needed to be filled once again, and started a game of questions.

"What was the craziest thing that happened to you when you came across a village?" She asked Kohaku.

"Hmm… Let me think. I've had a few odd occurrences before. One most memorable would be when they thought I was a savior of some sort, there to cure their village of a 'curse.' Or so they said. As far as I could tell, there was nothing wrong. So I pretended to give them a supposed cure, and left in the middle of the night to avoid anything crazy." He said, laughing slightly. Rin giggled in response.

"Well, you do save lives." She said with a smile. "You saved mine. I don't know how I can ever thank you enough, or repay you."

"Ah, don't worry about it." He said, turning away.

"Well, I will someday." She said finally.

They continued walking, until Kohaku decided to fill in the silence.

"What kinds of things do you do, to pass the time?" He asked suddenly.

"Well, sometimes I do things like if it's night, I look for shapes the stars make. Or if it's day, the same with clouds. If there's no clouds, then maybe shadows, or patterns on the ground, such as the leaves, or the beaten down trail. I also began to recognize different birds. Things like that, or things like, I'll collect something. But since I travel, I can't carry around a collection, so I start a new and different one each day. It gives me something to think about, something to do, to keep my mind busy while I spend hours and hours on end traveling." She said, and named off a few other things, such as humming a tune, making up one of those songs that the travelers sing about a great traveler.

"What things do you do?" She asked, as she finished her list of thing she did.

"Well, for the most part, I never really do anything. I like to look at the stars, and at the clouds, but sometimes I never have time to do those things. Sometimes I'll hum something, or think up a story in my head. I'll think up things like; what if there was someone with me. What would we do? And I'll come up with an entire day of what we'd do…" He drifted off as he looked up into the darkening sky.

"What now?" Rin asked, looking up as well.

"Well, we should camp. Or we could press on, there might be a village near by, where they'll let us stay in an in or something." He offered.

"I like the inn idea. I'm pretty sure there's one near here, since this is the direction I came from before the other night." Rin nodded in the direction to her left.

"All right then, let's go." Kohaku agreed, and started off towards where he hoped was a village.

Sure enough, about a half hour later, as the sun went all the way down, they reached a little village. There was one place with their lights still on. They walked up to it, to find it was an inn, where they could stay the night for a fair price, if they shared a room. They agreed, and went inside.

"Well, this'll do. It's better then having to camp I'll wager, especially with the likeliness of rain again tonight." Rin sighed, looking out the window to see storm clouds rolling in again.

"Yeah, you're right. This was a good idea…" Kohaku trailed off as he went to stand at the window and watch the clouds roll in.

Rin looked down at her clothes, and at her self in general. "I need a bath…" She commented, and then left the room to go ask the lady running the inn where she could take one, and find things such as towels and bathrobes. She came in for a brief moment to leave Kohaku a towel and robe, and then left to go take a bath.

When she came back, her clothing had been cleaned, and left in her room for her, and Kohaku was already gone to take his bath. She changed fast, not sure of how long it'd take him to take one. After that, she lay down to sleep, and dozed until Kohaku came back.

"Did I wake you up?" He asked as she rolled over.

"No, I wasn't fully asleep. But now I'm going to be…" She mumbled as she rolled over again. Kohaku quietly laid down as well, and went to sleep soon after he could hear her breath become slower.


	4. Friendship Strengthens

When Rin had waked up, every thing was packed, and breakfast was ready. Kohaku had woken up before her. She got up silently and joined him to eat. She ate in silence, reflecting on the past few days. One day she had gone from being all alone, wishing she'd meet up with someone. And the next this boy saves her, and they begin to travel together, rather then alone.

They got their thins together and left soon after they finished eating, thanking the lady of the inn as much as they could before they left.

"So, which way are we going today?" Rin asked, trying to break the silence.

Kohaku squinted off into the direction of where they had come from the previous day.

"That way." He pointed into the direction opposite of that that they had come from.

"All right then. Sounds good." Rin nodded. "How far off from any other towns are we do you think?" She asked, curious.

"About two or three days. That's just a guess though. Could be wrong. Oh well, I like to camp out. The stars are so much better the farther away from the town lights you get." He smiled and kept on walking, Rin following close behind.

They walked on until lunch in mostly silence with the exception of a few laughs about past experiences they've both had on the road.

When they stopped for lunch, Rin ate in silence, as she thought about things. _We've barely just met, and we have quite a bit in common. _She smiled to herself. _I'm just glad to not be traveling alone anymore._ She thought, then flopped back down onto her back, looking up at the clouds.

She closed her eyes for a moment as she once again thought about the past few days. _We hadn't even met yet, but he still saved me. I'll have to come up with a way to repay him… but how? _She scrunched her eyes closed as she pushed that thought away for a while, she'd think of something, later.

She opened her eyes again as she heard Kohaku lay down on the grass as well.

She saw him lift his arm to point straight up.

"See that cloud?" Rin gave a small response. "What do you think it looks like?"

Rin thought for a moment. "I think it looks like a stag."

Kohaku laughed. "No way! It doesn't look at all like a stag! It's a tiger."

"Nuh-huh, tigers are my favorite animal, along with any other of the feline species, and wolves. I'd know a tiger any day, and that's _not _a tiger. It's a stag."

"It's not a stag. Stags are my favorite animal, as well as wolves, and that is not a stag. It's a tiger!"

Their argument continued into well after the cloud shape had changed shape so far from where it was when the argument started.

"I used to be scared to death of wolves." Rin murmured a while after they had settled on the fact that they saw it from different positions so the cloud looked different to them.

Kohaku laughed. "Scared of wolves? Why ever would you be scared of wolves?"

"Hey! Don't laugh! I was a little girl! I'm not afraid of them anymore!" Rin glared at him. "It was because a man in my village when I was little used to tell scary stories about wolves, say his scary wounds were caused by them. It wasn't until I was older that he told me they were all made up stories, and wolves weren't at all like he had described them to be."

"Sorry, but it was funny." Kohaku smiled at her, but she glared back. He hung his head for a while as they continued on in silence.

Soon the sun began to sink down, hinting they should make camp. They set up camp, made food, and ate in silence again.

After Rin had finished eating, she went to flop down on the grass and stare at the stars for a little while, while lying next to the fire for warmth on the chilly night.

Soon Kohaku joined her, his head next to her's, but he was laying the opposite direction.

"See those three stars?" He said, pointing to three stars in a row. "And the five going in the cross direction at the end of the three?" He paused for her to find them. "Those are the bow and arrow of Lady Kikyo. She was a priestess, protecting her little village. May not seem like much, but to them, she's a hero. I heard it when I stayed in that village, or it might have even been a neighboring village. But she was pretty well known in that area. Maybe we'll cross that area, and you can hear some of the amazing stories about Lady Kikyo yourself, for in no way that me telling them could do her any justice, with the way these people tell the stories." He laughed.

"Wow." Rin whispered through the quiet night. "I want to hear stories about her." She smiled. Even though he couldn't see her smile, he could sense it.

Soon after she had said that, she drifted off to sleep. Kohaku sat up and looked around, realizing neither of them were in their bedrolls. He grabbed a blanket and put it over her, then one for himself, and went back to lay with his head next to her's once again. He fell asleep soon after the last crackle of the fire.


	5. The Village

Kohaku and Rin continued like this for weeks on end. For how long they traveled before they came across a village to stay in, they didn't know, for they had lost track of time themselves. Sometimes Rin or Kohaku would wonder to themselves if maybe they were purposely avoiding any villages.

For they'd see one during the day, but wouldn't stop there, because it was too early. Or they'd stop just short of one, and make camp.

They also wondered why they would be doing such a thing, but then Rin found herself waiting for the nights under the stars, where Kohaku would point out a constellation, and tell her a story about it.

Their days consisted of things like chasing one another through the trees, laughing about stories they had to share, and talking about the stars.

After a while, they began to wonder if they should find somewhere to stay. For good. They had no where they were really going, except from place to place with no real reason for wandering as they did.

"Maybe one of the next few villages we come across, we should look for a place to let us stay, until we can come up with a place of our own." Rin suggested to Kohaku one day, as they were resting in the grass, looking up at the clouds.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. We have no place we're really headed to. Mainly just looking for a place we can call home. Maybe it's time we make that place." Kohaku muttered.

At the thought of home, and things of the like such as family, Kohaku's mind filled with the image of a girl with long black hair tied into a pony tail. _What's her name…?_ He asked himself. _Sango._ Said a voice in the back of his mind. He shook his head as his mind was filled with visions of things he had seen like this before, but didn't remember what they were.

"What's wrong?" Rin asked, seeing Kohaku scrunch his eyes closed and shake his head.

"N-nothing. It's nothing. Just some visions of my past that I don't remember what they are bugging me again." He shook his head again to clear his vision. Rin nodded silently, it wasn't the first time this had happened.

One day, as the sun was going down off in the distance, they came across a small village consisting of only a few homes, and a well in the center, around which two children were chasing each other. Kohaku had stopped walking, and watched the scene in the village in front of them. Rin stopped walking as well. "So, should we stop here?" She asked.

"We'd have to make camp. I don't think any one would be willing to let us stay." He answered.

"You never know. It works for me for the most part." She shrugged and began to walk into the village.

When they got into the village, Rin looked around, then spotted a house with many children running around it, and two parents, sitting and watching them, laughing.

"That place looks good to me." Rin said, nodding in the direction of it.

"But wouldn't we be imposing on them? I mean, they already have so many there with them right now." Kohaku asked.

"That's why we offer to help them. Help take care and keep an eye on the little ones, help with cooking and things of the like, in return for a few nights stay. But we never ask for any more time there then they agree to have us there." Rin explained, then walked towards the house.

"All right then. I'll believe you." Kohaku replied and walked after her.

"Excuse me ma'am." Rin began. "We are travelers, looking for a place to stay. We were hoping you'd let us stay with you, in exchange for our services. We can help you keep an eye on them," She said, nodding in the direction of the little kids, still running in circles. "And help with chores around the house as well." She ended, smiled politely, and awaited their response.

"We'd be delighted for you two to stay. Stay as long as you need to." The lady smiled warmly.

Rin looked back at Kohaku, giving him that 'I told you so' look. Kohaku smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Take a seat." The lady smiled and motioned towards the two-sitter. They nodded and took a seat.

"I'm Rin." She smiled.

"I'm Kohaku." He smiled as well.

"I'm Mrs. Kani, and he's Mr. Kani." She said nodding to her husband next to her. He smiled and gave them a small wave. "That's Jenna," Mrs. Kani said, pointing to a little girl at the lead of the chase, with long brown hair pulled back tightly. "That's Mika," She said, pointing to the older girl, with the long braided brown hair, who was laughing at the boy chasing Jenna. "And that's Taku." She said, pointing to the short-brown haired little boy that was chasing Jenna. "Then that's Sakura, and Kira." She said, pointing to two redheaded kids, one a boy, the other a girl, sitting off to the side of Mika, laughing as well. "They're the neighbor's kids." She said, nodding to the house to their left. Sakura and Kira were obviously older then the others, probably closer to Rin and Kohaku's age, as well as Mika. Jenna was maybe 10, and Taku looked about 7.

Rin sighed and sat back, watching Taku chase Jenna as fast as he could, but she was a lot faster then him. He finally gave up when it turned into her chasing him around the well, she was going so fast compared to him.


	6. Three Months Later

About three months later, Kohaku and Rin were still staying with the Kani's. They would have left before, but they were told to stay as long as needed, and after a while, they had all gotten attached to each other.

It had become a daily routine for Rin to wake up, go downstairs and help Mrs. Kani make breakfast. After that, she'd round up the kids, who were already running around, with the help of Mika, and Kohaku, for sometimes, it needed to be done with all three of them. They had learned fast how to get past Rin alone.

After breakfast, Rin and Kohaku would help out with daily chores, like helping in the garden, watching the kids, cleaning house, laundry, and cooking. Rin wasn't much of a cook before, but after about a month, she had learned much more along the way of cooking then she ever knew before.

After dinner, Kohaku, Mika, Sakura, Rin, and Kira would go outside, and the five of them would talk around the fire pit they had made, in a spot a ways off from their houses. They shared stories, told scary stories, played games, and watched the stars. All five of them had become very close in the past three months.

Mika, Rin, and Sakura were a trio. Never saw one with out the other two, unless they were working of course. Always whispering, always giggling. Between the three of them, it had become a well-known fact that Mika liked Kira. Sakura liked a boy from the bakery she went to every day, named Kiyoshi. Rin's feelings towards boys were never expressed. Especially not about the boys they were ever with.

As well as the new friendships developed with Mika and Sakura, Rin had also become much closer then she already was with Kohaku. Often they'd hang out, just the two of them, instead of with the rest of the group. They'd sit under a tree, watching the stars at night, talking about things.

Their rooms were next to each other, and on the upper floor, so they'd meet on the roof from time to time, when they couldn't sleep, after crawling to the other's window and knocking.


	7. Realizations And Confessions

While Rin hadn't told Mika and Sakura how she felt about the boys in the village, it didn't mean there wasn't anything there.

Rin lay on her bed, looking up, thinking. She rolled over time and time again, trying to clear her mind. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get just one thing out of there.

She couldn't see why it was there either. She didn't want it there. In fact, she would have loved it to go away, and never to come back again.

_We're just friends. _She thought to herself, as she tried to shake an image from her imagination from her mind. _That's never going to happen! _

She sat straight up and shook her head hard, in hopes of losing the image. It was her and Kohaku, in a room where they were very much alone.

She stuffed her face in her pillow and tried once again to clear her mind so that she could sleep.

Meanwhile, Kohaku was having similar troubles. He lay flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. _She's just my friend. _He thought. _Nothing more. Never going to be anything more. Even if I wanted us to be more then friends, she wouldn't feel the same. And I don't either. _He added as an after thought, hoping to change his mind.

_Why? Why am I suddenly thinking of her like this? _He scrunched his eyes closed, and then opened them wide, seeing that it didn't help clear the image from his mind. An image of her and himself, alone. _It's not like if I told her about it, anything would happen. I mean, it's just not likely. _

He shook his head hard one last time, rolled over so his face was in the pillow, and fell asleep with one last thing on his mind.

The next morning Rin woke up and stared at her ceiling for a little while. When she got up and stepped out into the hallway, Kohaku did as well. She blushed and rushed past him.

Kohaku stood, bewildered and confused as to why she had turned red and run off like that.

For the rest of the day, Rin had trouble looking at Kohaku without turning red. But he didn't notice that, because he was having the same trouble.

One night, after a failed attempt to fall asleep, Kohaku knocked on Rin's window, and she came out and joined him on the rooftop.

"Hey, why'd you knock?" She asked, yawning.

"Couldn't sleep. Wondered if you could." Kohaku said, not looking straight at her.

"Yeah, I couldn't either. But I was afraid you were asleep already. I didn't want to wake you up." Rin said, looking at him. She wished she could read his expression, but as for the moon being the only light, and it being behind him, she could only see a silhouette of him, making it so she couldn't read his expression. She turned away, knowing he could see her face.

_Maybe I should tell him/her now. _They both thought.

"So, Kohaku." Rin started hesitantly. "Do you like anyone?" She asked in her usual curiously happy voice.

"Uh… No…" He lied. "What about you?" He asked, trying to use the same interested tone, rather then a scared one.

"Even if I did, I wouldn't tell you." Rin laughed, and looked away so he couldn't read her face.

"Then that means you do! Who is it?" He asked, now eager to know, but scared all the same.

"Guess." Rin smirked. Then her eyes widened as she realized there weren't many boys in the village, so it wouldn't take him too long to figure it out.

"Why? There are not too many guys here, let alone ones I think you would ever like. It wont take me long, so why wont you just tell me?"

"Because, that takes all the fun out of it for me!" She laughed. "So, start guessing!" She grinned at him in the moonlight.

"All right then. Kira."

"No way!" She laughed again. Kohaku joined in the laughter with her.

"I thought so, but it was a good thing I tried, because your reactions are funny. So, then do you like Kiyoshi?"

"No! That's who Sakura likes!" She giggled. "And he's too quiet. I swear, he's probably never had any contact with a girl past relatives. I wonder what he'd do if some girl hugged him."

"That's true." Kohaku said thoughtfully, then laughed. "I'm guessing that Taku is a no."

"Aww man, you hit the nail on the head. You caught me." She said sarcastically, and then laughed. "No, not Taku."

"Okay then, there's only a few more guys, sure you don't want to just tell me?" Kohaku asked.

"Just keep guessing." Rin said, wanting to waste as much time before she'd just have to come out and say it.

"Let's see." He thought.

Soon he named off all the boys that they knew the names of, except for him.

"Okay, Let's see, I've guessed everyone I know the name of. Then I'll ask questions about him." He said in a voice that sounded a little shaky. "Does he have dark hair and eyes?"

"Yes." Said Rin a little to fast, and in a shaky voice as well.

"Is his favorite animal say… a stag?" Kohaku said in as much of a sly voice that he could.

"You know." Rin said softly.

"No, there might be more people who like stags with dark hair and eyes." Kohaku said in mock defense.

"You know. I know you know. Just say it already. You know." Rin said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Nuh-huh. I don't need to tell you who it is, you're supposed to tell me." Kohaku replied sternly.

"You know it already. Why do I have to say it?" Rin asked, still scared to say it.

"Because, words don't mean a thing unless they come from the person themselves. It wouldn't mean anything if Sakura or Mika told me, or if I thought it on my own. It's something you have to say." Kohaku said softly.

Rin paused for a while, not sure of how to say it, but she knew she must. She was frustrated to the verge of tears, and was afraid if she spoke, it wouldn't come out right.

"Well…?" Kohaku asked softly.

"Alright already!" Rin nearly jumped up as she turned to look at him. "It's you! I like you! Okay? I like you." She said finally. She sighed and closed her eyes for a moment, then blushed and turned away quickly.

There was a moment's pause. Just when Rin thought it'd last forever, or that the worst would come, Kohaku spoke.

"I like you too." He said softly, in a shaky voice. "As… more then a friend." He added, to clear up what he said.

Rin couldn't think of anything to say. With still no clue on what to say, she scooted closer to him, and rested her head on his shoulder, as they watched the stars in silence for a little while longer, before finally going to bed.

As Rin lay in bed, she went over everything that had happened in the past hour or so. She couldn't believe it. He liked her too. She gave a happy sigh, and rolled over, falling asleep with a small smile on her face.

* * *

**_Hehe, there's chapter 7! While it all seems well and good, there's much more to this story! Just you wait! _**


	8. Don't Worry, I'm Here

When Rin woke up in the morning, she was instantly hit with the memory of the night before. She still couldn't believe it. She had thought it would never happen, but it turned out to be mutual. She got up quickly and stepped out into the hall.

Kohaku sat up in bed in the morning, and rubbed his head. A few minutes later it donned on him, he remembered everything from the night before. He sighed happily. He still couldn't believe it, but he didn't care, as long as it was that way all the same. He got up quickly and stepped out into the hall.

When Rin stepped out into the hall, so did Kohaku. She blushed and looked down for a minute, trying to think of what to do.

While Rin's head was lowered, Kohaku walked over and took her hand. "Come on, let's go make breakfast." He said, smiling.

Rin, still blushing, followed him. Their day continued on as normal, with the add in of them hugging every now and then.

One night, about two months later, instead of the rooftop, the chose a near by tree, after sitting at the fire with the rest of the group. They sat up in the tree, sharing a branch, watching the stars through the patches of sky through the leaves of the tree.

Their conversation reached a newer level this time around. While ever since that night on the rooftop, they were closer then ever, they hadn't quite reached this yet.

"You know, I still have a few memories of before I was alone." Kohaku said softly after their laughter had died from moments before. "None of them good ones. Ones I wish never happened, or that I had forgotten."

"Oh. Do you want to talk about them?" Rin asked carefully.

"Well, they're kind of scary some of them. And I don't know. I really don't know how to tell them. I have recently remembered some. Lately these visions of memories of the past have been coming more and more." He rested his face in his hands.

Rin took one of his hands from his face, and held it in her own. "You can tell me anything. I promise." She said, leaning down to look into his face. "Go ahead." She encouraged him.

And so Kohaku told of the scattered visions of memories he has had. The ones of Naraku, and how he was possessed by him, and made to do horrible things, all of which that he remembered he told her. How he had one memory of a girl named Sango that he barely remembered what she looked like, and still didn't know why he remembered her.

After he finished, he sat with his back to her, afraid to look at her, afraid of her reaction. But her reaction was far from what he had feared it would be. She put her arms around him from behind.

"It's okay. I understand. Naraku is an evil man. I'm sorry you had to go through that. And one of these days, we'll find Sango, and you can find out why she's so prominent in your memory. Okay? I'll help you find her. Don't worry, I'm here. I'll help." She said, resting her head next to his on his shoulder.

"Thank you." Kohaku said in a shaky voice, as he turned to put his arms around her as well, and buried his face into her shoulder.

They walked back to the house, and climbed through their window with out much talk between them, other then Rin's reassurances, and Kohaku's 'Thank you's. They hugged at the base of the house before they parted to go up to their rooms for a long while, enjoying the feel of being in each other's arms.

The next morning Rin came into Kohaku's room to wake him up, for he hadn't gotten up at the usual time.

"Hey, wake up." She said softly, as she shook him lightly. He groaned and opened his eyes. "Wake up sleepy head. You doing all right?" She asked him, a little worried.

Kohaku sat up and stretched. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Really, I'm fine. I just, fell asleep a little late last night." He rubbed his eyes.

"Hey, maybe you should sleep in a little today. I'll save you some breakfast, and cover for you in chores. You rest for a while. You look really tired." Rin said sounding concerned.

Kohaku shook his head. "No, no, I'm fine, really." He smiled at her. "I'm all right." He got up and walked down to breakfast with her.

That night at the fire with Mika, Sakura, and Kira, they all discussed how to get Sakura to talk to Kiyoshi.

"Guys…" Sakura said, trying to get Mika to stop babbling about an extremely involved plan on how to get the two of them alone that involved someone faking hurt, someone buying bread, Sakura lost, and many other things that made sense.

"Oh come on guys." Rin finally said after she stopped laughing at Mika's elaborate plan that everyone knew was useless; they just wanted to listen because it was funny. "Let's leave her alone."

"Thank you Rin. See, at least one of you will stop!" She shot a dirty look at Mika. Everyone laughed.

"I'm sorry Sakura! If it bother's you, I'll stop!" Mika said, hugging Sakura, who returned the glomp-like hug awkwardly.

Their laughter rang out in the night, as they continued to try and find a way to tease each other. They returned late, and sleep came easily to each of them.

* * *

**_Erinay: Whee! Chapter 8 is done! I'm on a roll!_**

**_Rin: Wow. Where are you going with this...?_**

**_Erinay: You'll see! Hehehe, I have plans. Many plans._**

**_Rin: Ooookay. I leave it to you then._**


End file.
